McCoy and friends score for ALS: DeSean Jackson shows up to help

Former Eagles player DeSean Jackson attempts to rebound his own ball while warming up before a celebrity basketball game at Neumann Univeristy Saturday. The game benefits Eagle's running back LeSean McCoy's Shades of Greatness, Inc. organization which assists inner city youth and those with ALS disease. (Times Staff / JULIA WILKINSON)

ASTON – With the music thumping and celebrities galore, Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy hosted a charity basketball game Saturday to combat the disease that took away the lady who taught him perseverance and humility.

McCoy, along with several of his teammates, former Eagle-turned Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson and rapper Nelly, took to the court at Neumann University’s Mirenda Center for Sport, Spirituality and Character Development to raise funds for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig Disease), which claimed the life of his grandmother, Maryann Branch, several years ago.

“I think sometimes where I face adversity, I look back to how she fought and struggled,” McCoy said. “There’s times that I’m complaining about different things where it’s not as serious as the things she fought, the disease she fought and that helps me get over my adversity sometimes.”

Watching his Nana struggle with the deteriorating disease was difficult and it drove him to commemorate her through his non-profit, the Shades of Greatness Foundation, which raises funds for ALS research and for treatments for those living with it. McCoy’s nickname is “Shady”.

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“It slowly diminished her body,” McCoy said. “At first, it was just speech and touch …. This is why my group and my foundation came up with the fight for ALS and making it a priority. There’s many things I could be doing like traveling and having fun. You know, doing things that a 25-, 26-year-old kid would do but something like this is something big to me and I’ll take out time to do it.”

And, he did Saturday along with his teammates and friends who played a fun game of hoops to the fans’ delight.

“I’m here to support LeSean McCoy because I’m a big Eagles fan,” Johnny Plowden of Philadelphia said after arriving hours early to get a front bleacher seat, next to his friend and Dallas Cowboy fan Cauthorn Brandon, formerly of Chester.

Plowden liked the combination of supporting the cause and seeing his idols.

“You don’t get to see that that often,” he said. “Why not come out and have fun?”

“Our philosophy, our values are to try to be good partners and try to do good things for good people and this connects with what we strive to do as an institution,” Sack said. “It’s the first time that we’ve ever done something of this magnitude. We feel very fortunate to be given a shot at it.

“This type of celebrity in the house here on our campus is pretty special,” he said.

Of course, McCoy was asked about the upcoming season and about the appearance of former teammate Jackson.

“We’re a good team,” he said. “DeSean Jackson, obviously he’s not an Eagle no more but the friendship and the bond are still there and he supports me and vice versa, I do the same. I was happy to have him here and all my teammates from the Eagles.”

About the season, McCoy said his focus is on spending time with his family right now but that will turn to football once training camp starts the end of this month.

“Every year, you’ve got to be better,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure you’re always on top of your game. I think we’ve got a good team. I’m kind of curious to see how it will be .… I want to see how we look as a team. The defense is really good. A couple of the rookies been playing really well and I think (Eagles quarterback) Nick Foles is really taking that jump to really being a star. I think he’s really turning on.”

But, for the day, the focus was on McCoy’s charity and his face brightened when he talked about his late grandmother who was in her 60s when she died.

“Man,” he smiled, “she was special. The weird thing is she didn’t care too much about sports. There were times that I had five, six touchdowns and she’d pat me on the back like, ‘Good job.’ Then, something small, like the next day I go to church and I have a nice suit on and I dressed myself and she’s like, ‘Oh my God!’”

Even her disease gave McCoy’s family more reason to bond and to embrace the meaningful moments they had with this special lady.

“My family, we’re a tight group,” McCoy said, “but, it really, really helped us out and brought us together. Her being sick and us coming together to cheer her up, to keep her spirits high - things like that matter. You think it don’t, but it does, it really does.”